A SENIOR government official has lashed out at the persistent protests against the proposed smelter plants and a number of other government projects now underway.

“It’s a conspiracy,” he insisted.

“Look and you will see that among the handful of protestors are the usual ‘have beens’ and otherwise rejected politicians and so-called activists.

“Every single thing we attempt, we are being told we shouldn’t do it or that now is not the time or that it is unsafe.

“But if we play stupid and listen to some of the stupid protests, at the end of the day, we will be accused of achieving nothing during our term.

“We will be in a lose-lose situation if we try to follow their agenda.

“Some of them will protest against every single thing that the People’s National Movement (PNM) does; if we get a mandate from God tomorrow to build a highway to heaven they will protest against that also.”

He noted: “Almost everywhere we try to build houses, some from the usual crowd, as I prefer to call them, raise objections.

“Yet, the people want houses which the private sector can’t provide.

“When there is no real reason to object, they invent reasons, go to their friends in the media, many who are always willing to oblige, and the story is top of the news.

“Some of these protestors with their political agendas live by the philosophy that when there is no news, make news.

“So in league with certain journalists, they make news by staging protests with a handful of hired hands.

“And the report is always that there was a massive demonstration, even though you can count the number of protestors in less than a minute.

“Look and you will see that when the election bell rings, many of the faces in the demonstrations will be Opposition candidates

“Mark my words.”

The government official added: “The professional protestors among them can’t refute the counter-argument that the smelter plants are nowhere as unsafe as they contend, yet the protests continue, even though many of the villagers themselves have no objection.

“They are bringing all kinds of spurious arguments against the smelter; now I see they have even enlisted the support of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC), since they are not getting any level of crowd support in their mischief-making.

“And Basdeo Panday is or so willing to oblige from his dying political bed.”

He continued: “The same people who hailed the UNC for building the four stadia are the same ones who are now objecting to the building of the Tarouba Stadium.

“One of the objectors wanted to know, ‘where the hell is Tarouba’ because, in his opinion, south Trinidad must have nothing.

“And some of the same ones who protested against the PNM Government two years ago for not building the overpass to ease the traffic at the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, protested when we decided to build it and have even called in their hotshot lawyer-cum-failed politician to stall us concerning land which we must use.

“What do they really want?

“Must we really take these people seriously?

“The Minister of Transport Colm Imbert suggested car-pooling as one possible way to ease traffic congestion on the roads which everyone is complaining about, but some even see race in the suggestion because they claim it will force ‘strangers’ to sit next to each other and create unwanted situations.

“And everybody knows one of the causes of the traffic jams is too much cars on the roads, yet some of the used-car dealers see race and politics in the suggestion that they must bring in only newer cars to sell.”

He recalled: “If the PNM Government had listened to some of those same voices of protests when the Point Lisas Industrial Estate was being built, today the country would have been struggling to survive without it.

“In fact, some of the very persons who were caught up in the anti-Point Lisas protests now hold big jobs on the Estate.

“The Point Lisas Estate has become one of the centre-pieces of progress in the country’s industrial development, but they wanted to stop it when it was conceived.

“Ramesh Maharaj led demonstrations in Couva calling on us to shut down Point Lisas or relocate thousands of residents because the plants on the estate were unsafe, yet when UNC won the elections they gave the okay to build a mall in the heart of the estate and Ramesh suddenly decided that Point Lisas was safe after all.

“So why must we listen to these two-tongue people.

“Many of the protests are disguises to protest against the PNM for any reason whatsoever and to retard the country’s progress and the party’s forward march.”

The government official continued: “Do you remember that Wade Mark and his party even protested against the decision of the PNM Government to build the Lara Promenade?

“They raised all kinds of spurious arguments why the Lara Promenade mustn’t be built even though what existed then were unsightly old shacks in the heart of Port of Spain.

“The Lara Promenade has been so successful that it has spawned the Inshan Ali Promenade in Couva and the San Juan and San Fernando Promenades.

“And the Lara Promenade is the place where so many thousands of Trinis go, day and night, to lime and relax and form love relationships, etc.

“But remember, ‘big mouth’ Wade Mark wanted to stop us from building it.

“And they also didn’t want us to build the Twin Towers and the Hall of Justice.

“Almost every single project conceived by a PNM Government has been a reason for protests in this country by the ‘usual crowd’.”

He continued: “Even in Tobago when we decided to build the Claude Noel Highway, as Dr. Rowley reminded recently, they threatened to lie down in front of the bulldozers because they insisted that the Sister Isle didn’t want that kind of road.

“You ever hear more backwardness than that?

“Must the PNM listen to that kind of foolishness?”

He continued: “I am willing to bet that many of the anti-smelter protesters will be lining up outside the gates looking for jobs when the construction work begins on the plants or when they are up and running.

“And you remember how they criticised us for closing down Caroni Ltd. and how they predicted doom and gloom and that Central will become a ghost town?

“Has Central become a ghost town?

“On the contrary, Central remains one of the busiest places in Trinidad and that is because the government had the vision to build Point Lisas, so that the children of the sugar cane workers are employed there, thus preventing too much fall out from the closure of Caroni Ltd.

“Those protestors are some of the most backward thinkers in the country; if you follow them the country will never progress.

“As an aside, they are protesting for better phone service but they are also protesting against the building of cell sites which will give them the better phone service they desire.

“And the very safety concerns they express about the cell sites they suffer them in a worse form from the very use of their cell phones.

“Somebody has to tell those Trinis to wake up and smell the oil.

“Didn’t Panday slam placard protestors during his reign, telling them to pick up a book instead?”

He added: “When UNC won power in 1996, they made fun of the PNM, calling us the ‘woulda, shoulda, coulda’ government because of the many things we neglected to do by listening to the voices of protest.

“UNC never listened to those voices, because many of them became quiet during the UNC reign.

“Now they have found their voices again, but we will not be deterred by their nonsense this time.

“Some of them have nothing to do but protest; they are professional protestors, but we are about the people’s business and the people can’t wait.”